“What makes you thinkIthrew it away?” I fired at her, but my heart clenched that she didn’t have anyone to talk to. She had her friends, sure, but she didn’t have a Callie…
“Because I saw her look at you when you didn’t, dumbass.” Her eyes blazed at me. “What. Happened.”
“I headed to class, no issues. I saw Callie text me, but I saw your text, too. The one that only said call me ASAP.”
“Yeah, you said you were in class. I said I got a letter from dad and to get over here when you could.”
“I never replied to Callie during that time because shit, hearing from our dad is fucked up.” I ran my hands through my hair. “I mean, fuck. You don’t get a text like that every day.”
“Right. Keep going.”
“She texted me but I didn’t read it. I couldn’t. So I said I was in class. I went for maybe ten minutes but ran home. I would’ve told her eventually, but, as I said, I was preoccupied. I ran back to the house and one of the damn cleat chasers who has been targeting me all year followed me back. She let herself into the house until I screamed at her to get the fuck out. She finally went to leave.”
“Ah, shit. Callie?” Zaria grimaced.
“Yeah, apparently she had the same class as me and refused to tell me this whole time.” I gripped my hair. “I can’t decide what I’m madder at. She said, at first because she wanted to spy on me. Or maybe the fact she followed me back to the house and assumed it had something to do with Veronica.”
“So, what happened then?”
“We got into it. I yelled at her that she didn’t trust me. After all this time, I’ve showed her day in and day out she changed me. Then, she drops that she was going to fucking mess with me that day in class and tell me she loves me. It’s bullshit. She wouldn’t have followed me back or hid the fact we were in class together all semester if she really trusted me.” I scoffed and threw one of her pillows onto the floor in protest. “We yelled a little and I told her get out. I didn’t want to deal with her or see her face.”
“Jesus, Zade.” Zaria sighed and gave me a sad smile. “That’s really fucked up and a total misunderstanding.”
“Yeah. I see that now, but I can’t get over the fucking fact she doesn’t trust me.”
“You need to talk to her. I don’t want you throwing away something over something minor. Look, I get the class thing pissed you off, but is that worth breaking up over? What if you saw her running out of a class and she ignored your text? What would you do?”
“Probably follow her,” I admitted, realizing her words made sense. “Ah, fuck.”
“Yeah. Dumbass. What if you showed up and a guy left her apartment and when you asked her about it, she told you to… What did you say to her? What if she said she didn’t want to deal with you or see your face? How might you feel, Zade?”
My stomach dropped and not in the anger kind of way. More like,I was the biggest dipshit on the planetkind of way. She nudged me. “How would you feel? Answer me.”
“Furious. Worried. Pissed.”
“Yeah. Does that mean you don’t trust her?”
“No.” I said in a small voice.
“Go to her.”
I thought about it. I wanted to see her, desperately, and make sure I didn’t ruin the best thing to happen in my life. But things had been said and we needed to cool off. “It can wait, I’m not leaving you alone tonight. Today was…a fucking ride.”
Her face softened and I knew I needed to wait to talk to Callie. “Today is about family.”
“Thanks, bro.” She hugged me, quickly. “I appreciate you.”
“Now, maybe not rip-roaring drunk, but how about a couple beers? I need it.”
She nodded. “Let’s go. I don’t want to be here. There’s a pub down the road. We can watch baseball or something. It’s not my favorite sport, but it’ll do.” She slid a sly glance at me.
“Sis got jokes. Okay.” I held the door open for her. “You can help me think of ideas to get Callie to forgive me.”
“Yeah, you’re going to need all the help you can get.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Callie
